To those who have first hand experience retrofitting the bullet HLCD drivers that are "supposed" to be a direct drop in to the current MC cans.

Can you provide any input on how drop in the process is. My research comes up with possibly redrilling some mounting holes.. to the new drivers have the same mounting holes now.. but nothing conclusive.

Can you provide any input on performance of this configuration? How do they compare to various alternatives such as wetsounds etc..

Lastly any experience with the lower cost Krypt raw driver HLCD? Does it fit into the newer style can? How well does it work in this application? It's a much lower cost alternative if it works and provides a decent result.

The new Bullet HollowPoint NEO770 HLCD has converted to the same six hole pattern as the MC pods. So its a direct fit. No drilling and taping of the new mounting pattern as before.
The Bullet HollowPoint product has considerable engineering behind it. A domestic speaker designer (Joe) traveled overseas extensively for the R&D of this speaker. Then the speaker was refined by a domestic outfit RedRock Acoustics (Pat), one of the best speaker designers in the industry and a contributing author of "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook". The HollowPoint is a great speaker.
Other than sending a product over to China to be knocked-off, I am unaware if Krypt has any speaker design expertise at all.
Wetsounds does not have a direct-fit 7.7" product. But if you are willing to replace the factory pods, the Wetsounds new REV8s and REV10s are incredible sounding.

I will say that both fit the MC pods for sure as I know of at leas 3 people that added Bullets and 4 people that added the Krypts. They did have to drill new holes as they didn't line up perfectly with the factory ones, but that was it.

As David mentioned there are some differences in how the speakers were designed and looked over between Bullet and Krypt. Basically Krypt sent Wetsounds to China and had them knocked off/copied. No real design work from them. They also did this with the Wetsounds Eq. I have owned the Krypt 6.5 HLCD and it was a great sounding speaker that lasted and is still going strong. I got a great deal on a group buy for their intro to the market. You will have to drill new holes for their 7.7's to drop into the MC cans. I can tell you having my 6.5's side by side to a pair of Pro 60's there was no difference to our ears, but I don't judge stereo contests. Same went for a pair of Pro 80's and the Krypt 7.7's Compared to the MC JL's you loose a liitle more mid/ bass sound near the boat, but you gain a ton more volume at the end of the rope due to the HLCD design. So its a trade off.

While I can't give you much info on the sound or mounting for the newer Bullet style NEO 7.7 the older style is a drop in and will just require new holes for the mounting like the Krypts. The Hollowpoint Bullets also sound great from first hand experience as well as reviews. Bullet is much more involved in the design of their finished product and thus will have that tech background for help and issues while Krypt won't. I really couldn't tell a difference between the Pro 80's, Krypt 7.7's and Bullet 7.7's at 80ft. Again tho I am not a professional stereo guy.

I will put it like this from a guy who isn't involved in selling, making, or promoting stereo stuff for a living.....You can't be the Krypts for the $$ if you find a deal, they sound great and can compete with the top dogs. You won't get any tech support from qualified people from Krypt/Bullet Lines, Krypt has very little in depth stereo knowledge to help you in a trouble shoot and their customer service/warranty is spotty depending in the day you call. Their owner doesn't have the best resume in starting a company. Their business model offended a ton of people because they basically shipped Wetsounds products to China in order to have them knocked off/copied and offered at a lower price. While I can see that as a huge bridge for some to overcome, as well as a not so good business practice, I also see it from the point of viewcfrom a guy(me) who is looking for the best deal possible on decent gear that will get the job done on something I use part time for half a year. So for me I was able to overlook that. Again all the people I know with these speakers, including the 6.5 HLCD's I owned, haven't had issues and to me their sound is on par with the speakers of that era from other companies to my ears. So it kind of boils down to what you're saving vs what you need or want that the other companies offer.

Bullet has a great rep, great customer service and has been involved in trying to come up with new products which is evident in their Neo Line. Again solid product with awesome reviews and next to zero failures and issues.

And then obviously you have the new Wetsounds Rev 8's/10's. I can tell you that these speakers are hard to beat in sound quality near and far with the right power. They scream, I own the Rev 8's and will attest to that if you decide you just want to ditch the MC pods.

I will also add this, if you do the HLCD's in your pods and ditch the JL's I would highly recommend going with a Wetsounds 420 EQ to finish it off. The HLCDS need a little more customization to really reap the benefits.